Monday, August 7, 2017

On the mental health front, one skirmish in the battle
against depression has just been won. Among the several ways you can overcome
depression is this one: Eat meat. Yes, indeed, researchers have discovered that
vegetarians— including vegans—are more likely to be depressed
than healthy, happy meat eaters.

Vegetarians
are often fond of preaching the healthy virtues of their meat-free diet.

But
giving up chicken and beef in favour or carrots and broccoli is making them
more miserable, say experts.

Going
veggie may leave devotees suffering from vitamin and mineral deficiencies that
can affect their mental health.

A study
by Bristol University of almost 10,000 men in the south west of England found
that those who gave up meat were almost twice as likely to suffer depression as
those on a conventional balanced diet.

It
found the 350 committed vegetarians had a higher average depression score
compared to others.

The
paper, in the Journal of Affective Disorders, said a veggie diet led to lower
intake of vitamin B12 and greater consumption of nuts rich in omega-6 fatty
acids, which may be linked with greater risk of mental health problems.

The results are intuitively obvious. Giving up chicken and
steak for carrots and broccoli will make anyone depressed. The same holds true
for those who replace fish with lettuce.

The story continues:

The
authors discovered just over half of vegans and 7 per cent of vegetarians were
deficient in vitamin B12 – which is found in red meat and plays an important
role in producing brain chemicals that influence mood.

The
study states that diet is known to play a part in depression, and that
deficiencies in iron is another possible explanation for the findings.

Those
who had been vegetarian for longer showed a trend towards higher depression
scores over time.

However
the authors did not rule out that the decision to adopt a vegetarian diet may
be a symptom of depression.

Glad to see that the author included the qualification in
the last sentence. It might be the case that depressed people are more likely
to go vegan. And yet, if they see grass and twigs as the cure for their depression, they will find
out that they are mistaken.

Anyway, we need more studies to be more definitive. But, now
you do not need to feel guilty for eating that T-bone.

I suspect many vegetarians choose their path because they don't any to be involved in killing. Yet most plants die when harvested, too. Vegetarians seem incapable of distinguishing harvesting animals from murder. This is the reason they are depressed -- they have an excruciating conscience, and believe themselves surrounded by death. So much becomes optional, including their own health.